Groups Praise Immigrant-visa Bill

Gutierrez Plan Would Restore Expired Law

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would reinstate a law that had allowed undocumented immigrants to apply for visas from inside the United States.

The law expired last year after Congress gave it several short reprieves and created massive confusion among immigrants. Some left the United States to apply for visas through consular offices in their home countries, and others stayed, fearing that if they left, they would not see their families for years.

The legislation, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Connie Morella (R-Md.), would allow immigrants to submit applications to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, but it does not grant them amnesty or protection from deportation while they wait to become legal residents.

"This would keep families together," Gutierrez said. "It's a simple process that works, and it's good for immigrants, taxpayers and for employers."

The legislation was welcomed by local immigrant community leaders. Bob Cotter, director of legal programs with Centro Sin Fronteras (Center Without Borders) in Chicago, said the reinstatement of the law would encourage more immigrants to legalize.

"You have people who are U.S. citizens, who married someone without papers, and they have children born here who are U.S. citizens," Cotter said. "But the spouse can't become a legal permanent resident unless they leave the country."

Fred Tsao, immigration and citizenship coordinator with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the law benefits immigrants and the INS.

"The law provided a very important means for many people already present in the U.S. to obtain legal status, and it also provided an important source of funding for the INS that was used for border patrol."

When the law expired in January 1998, the INS said it had been a big source of income, generating more than $140 million in revenue in fiscal year 1996, most of it used in enforcement operations. Under the law, immigrants paid $1,000 to the INS to apply for visas.

An INS spokesman in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that the agency had not seen the proposal and could not yet comment.

Gutierrez said the expiration of the law simply shifted duties from the INS to the State Department's consular offices abroad.

"It has not saved money or made the process more efficient," Gutierrez said.

He hopes to gather bipartisan support for the legislation, but in the past some Republicans have opposed the law, arguing that it rewards immigrants who entered the country illegally.